Event will honor Korean War veterans

An event this weekend at Green Acres Baptist Church will honor Korean War veterans.

“Most of what people know about the Korean War comes from M.A.S.H.,” said senior pastor David Dykes. “The Korean War is known as ‘The Forgotten War’ … These veterans absolutely feel forgotten. Now, with veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, we give soldiers a hero’s welcome. That didn’t happen in 1953. Those soldiers just kind of slipped back into society.”

The “I Love America” concerts will have four performances on Sunday and Monday. Sunday’s performances will be at 9:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday’s performance will be at 7 p.m. in the worship center. Korean War veterans will be welcomed to the stage and a reception for Korean War veterans and their widows will be held after Monday’s performance.

Green Acres has been honoring all veterans with “I Love America” concerts for 24 years, Dykes said, and a few years have focused on specific wars to recognize.

“On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south,” according to history.com. “This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. As far as American officials were concerned, it was a war against the forces of international communism itself.”

“After some early back-and-forth across the 38th parallel, the fighting stalled and casualties mounted with nothing to show for them. Meanwhile, American officials worked anxiously to fashion some sort of armistice with the North Koreans. The alternative, they feared, would be a wider war with Russia and China – or even, as some warned, World War III. Finally, in July 1953, the Korean War came to an end. In all, some 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war. The Korean peninsula is still divided today.”